The Paranormal Database

All Sorts

Location: Freshwater - Vine Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: According to the owners of the inn, all sorts of ghost sightings and strangeness have been reported over the years, although exact details are not known.

Lucy Lightfoot

Location: Gatcombe - Gatcombe Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: 13 June 1831
Further Comments: A local lass on her way to church, Lucy disappeared mysteriously when an eclipse covered the sun and the island was hit by a terrible hurricane. At the same time, an effigy of Edward Ester at the church changed. Years later, the vicar claimed to have discovered written evidence that the young lady had gone back in time and married Edward Ester. It is now generally acknowledged this whole story was fiction created during the 1960s.

Dancing Dog

Location: Gatcombe - St Olave's Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Summer (reoccurring) (Dog), young girl unknown
Further Comments: The carved wooden dog at the feet of the effigy of Edward Estur is said to come alive during summer nights and dance around the church standing on hind legs. The churchyard is said to be haunted by a ghostly young girl with blonde hair in a pale dress.

Godshill Church, Isle of Wight.

Moving Foundations

Location: Godshill - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Church still present
Further Comments: The church was to be built at the bottom of the hill, but after the stones moved themselves up to the top one night, the construction workers took the hint and finished the job in the new location.

The Griffon public house, Godshill, Isle of Wight.

Woman in Black

Location: Godshill - Griffon public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s-2000s
Further Comments: Both staff and customers reported seeing a woman in black who would appear and disappear around the site. Items were also said to occasionally throw themselves off surfaces.

Rose

Location: Godshill - The Bat's Wing Tea Shop
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This shop is said to be haunted by a woman in black, named as Rose, who sits in a rocking chair with a ginger cat in her lap.

Crowd with Torches

Location: Havenstreet - Road leading to village, and area near Hare & Hounds Inn
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 4 January 1969
Further Comments: A couple out in their car found themselves surrounded by hundreds of people running across nearby fields holding burning touches. As they drove to the nearby village, one of the figures stepped out in the road and passed straight through their car.

Serving Girl

Location: Horringford - Hazeley Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 1976
Further Comments: A witness stated that she had had a feeling of overwhelming despair and fear after entering an empty room in the building (at the time the site was little more than a ruin). It was also as cold as ice, even though it was warm outside. She later discovered that a maid had taken her own life in that room. The building has since been renovated, and all traces of that area have been removed.

Tristram Dillington

Location: Knighton Gorges - Knighton Shute
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 04 July (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Former owner of the demolished Knighton Manor, Tristram Dillington drives a coach and four horses on the anniversary of his death.

Dispatch Rider

Location: Locksgreen - Vittlefields crossroads
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s onwards?
Further Comments: A phantom dispatch rider on his motorcycle is thought to haunt this road - he was killed during the Second World War when he drove into a military tank. Drivers have swerved to avoid hitting the phantom.

The Mottistone Long Stone, Isle of Wight.

St Catherine's Throw

Location: Mottistone - Long Stone
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: To settle a dispute over who should control the island, Saint Catherine and the Devil agreed to a stone tossing contest. Saint Catherine's throw was straight and true, landing some seven miles away. The Devil's throw fell short and, true to his word, he left the island. Other versions of the story replace Saint Catherine with a neighbourhood giant, but with the same outcome. Either way, the thrown boulder remains for all to see. It is now thought the two stones are part of a Neolithic long barrow, but of course, I'm sure that's what the Devil wants you to believe.

Not by Guilt

Location: Mottistone - Rocking Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A large rocking stone here could be moved by the wind, but never by a man possessing a guilty conscience.

Woman in White

Location: Nettlestone - Road near the old church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Exact date not known
Further Comments: Several motorists are said to have encountered the phantom woman dressed in white that haunts this road, reporting their sightings to the police after driving through her.

The Blue Lady

Location: Nettlestone - The Priory hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This young teenage girl once haunted the former priory along with her little dog, though sightings have been rare as of late. The dog outlived the girl by several years, was stuffed after its death, and is now kept in a glass case within the building. The haunting is said to grow quite intense if the hound is ever removed from the hotel.

Gibbet

Location: Newbridge - Dodpits Cross
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: October 1928
Further Comments: A young girl walking home encountered a gibbet with the body of a bearded man swinging from it at this junction. She ran off, and looking over her shoulder once more, realised that gibbet and man had vanished, replaced by the normal junction signpost.

Older Woman

Location: Newchurch - Pointer Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Woman circa 1950s, others unknown
Further Comments: A former landlady came across the semi-transparent ghost of an older woman, wearing clothing a couple of hundred years old, by the back door. A poltergeist has also been reported on the site, as have a shadowy figure.

Sailor

Location: Newport - Bargeman's Rest Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Home to two ghosts and a poltergeist, the entities are named as a sailor who once owned a boat which was moored on the nearby River Medina, a woman in old fashioned clothing, and finally the poltergeist is blamed for playing with taps.

Sir Richard Worsley

Location: Newport - Bugle Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: Sir Richard Worsley of Appuldurcombe died of his injuries after losing a sword fight outside the building in the 1620s. The stable block where he spent his final moments was demolished in the 1960s and replaced with a kitchen, after which a ghostly figure was seen in the room, and pots and pans were thrown around.

Castle Inn, Newport Isle of Wight.

Whistling Shape

Location: Newport - Castle Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: The phantom whistling was heard several times by staff at the pub, once coming from a strange white shape that passed through the bar.

Clifford Street, Newport, Isle of Wight.

Huge Claw

Location: Newport - Clifford Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 18 April 2005
Further Comments: A white figure seen down this road was accompanied by a large claw-shaped apparition.

Disapproving Lady

Location: Newport - Crown Inn, Walkers Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This female form is said to be friendly, although disapproves of card games.

Monks

Location: Newport - Lavender Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but said to be active around dusk
Further Comments: The farmyard is rumoured to be frequented by the ghosts of monks dressed in brown robes, with one ghost heard questioning his faith.

Old Woman

Location: Newport - Private house along Fairlee Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1997
Further Comments: A family vacated this property after several disturbing encounters with a phantom old lady and a small child holding balloons. Electrical items would work without being plugged into the mains, and items (and caged pets) would vanish only to appear later.

Little Girl

Location: Newport - Private house, Honey Hill area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2014
Further Comments: A couple who retired to the island moved into a property which was haunted by footsteps and poltergeist activity. A little girl was seen and heard by visiting family who refused to return. One of the couple was pushed down the stairs by the entity and suffered a broken collar bone. While in hospital, a nurse who spotted their address on the patients' notes said that she had previously lived in the house and had moved out after experiencing the antics of a poltergeist.

Cottage with Pond

Location: Newport - Sandy Lane
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1951 / 1952
Further Comments: A lad cycling down Sandy Lane recalled seeing a picturesque farmhouse with a pond just in front of it. Years later the (now grown) man tried to find the dwelling but could find no evidence the property or pond ever existed.